Pure Goddess
by MajorStupoid
Summary: Sequel to The Key to Everything Alyssa has defeated Etro, that world was destroyed, and everyone lives happily ever after in a different world or something else. Almost everyone that is. For Alyssa, the confusion is just beginning. She sees her sister from her abandoned family, but, unable to move, what will she do about it?


We both stared at each other, dumbfounded.

My name is Alyssa Calegarae, and I am the wielder of the Crystal Kingdom Key. It's the most powerful Keyblade in the world. When I first got it told taught me how to do pretty much anything by merely thinking about it because there is a spirit inside of it.

Who I just ran into (or found staring at me while I was unconscious) was my long lost sister. I know this because I know everything, or close to it. The only thing I can't remember from my amnesia is the fight that caused it.

Anyway, her name is Amy "Rouge" Calegarae. She's pretty much like me, except her eyes are dark red, slightly darker than blood. Her hair is also somehow blue, while mine is blond. She's also about 7 ½ years younger than me, I guess. She's also naturally mute, and I wasn't really in a position to speak so…

"Amy, it's, um, nice to, um, see you."

See, I didn't have to best relationship with my older siblings and parents. Amy is the one I had to deal with, because she was only a half a year old when I ran away. Then the heartless attacked, I got my Keyblade, and I was sent to the Door to Darkness, where I met Aqua, and the rest is in my last story.

"How are the others?"

She shook her head, and made a dead face while fakely cutting across her neck.

"You do it so bluntly, did you not get along with them either?"

She shook her head.

As we went along in this world, I found Amy, despite being 11, was rather childish, and had that same curiosity that 8 year olds tend to have. As a result of this, she causes trouble, starting right now.

She started poking my nonmoving limbs, which were broken from the suffering Etro the Demon put me through. It was her who made my vocals cords very sore. She planted this thing in me that slowly ate away at me, but I stopped it after the vocal cords by absorbing my friends' energy to where there was no room spiritually for the thing, so it was forced out physically.

Anyway, she was poking my broken limbs. I cried out, but quickly stopped. She stopped as well. She made an "I'm sorry" look.

"It's okay; just remember that curiosity killed me, or close to it."

Then we heard footsteps. Soon, Quint ran to our side, mostly to mine. "Are you okay?" he asked. Amy nodded her head. "I didn't ask you!" he snapped.

She looked sad then. "Sorry about him, he can be too protective sometimes. Quint you should treat your sister a little better."

"My sister? Are you serious? I barely remember _your_ face in our old life."

"Yes I'm serious. She's Amy "Rouge" Calegarae. We were born under different moms, but all share a name. For the life of me, I can't remember the other two."

Amy picked up a stick, and drew in the sand, since we were on a beach. She made a stick figure of a girl, labeling it Tabitha 27 ½. Then she drew a boy labeling it Adam 26.

"Oh, yeah, them."

"What's wrong?"

"They used to pick on me a lot, not letting me have any me time, because I couldn't use magic yet without a Keyblade. You couldn't either, Quint, but since you were the oldest, I'm pretty sure no one messed with you. You were sent away when I was very little, so I don't remember what you look like."

Then he picked me up, and it hurt like hell. "Could you be a little gentler?"

"Sure, let's go."

Amy started to follow us.

"Listen, Amy, it's nice to see you and all, but in all honesty, you would slow us down."

She looked disappointed.

"Quint, my limbs are broken, and you let me come along, don't you?"

He sighed. "Okay, fine, just carry you own weight."

We walked to a nearby town, mostly because Amy dragged us there, and she led us to a small apartment. She put her hands in the air, and spun around. Then she plopped down on a couch.

"Is this really where we all lived?"

She looked sad.

"Oh, no, no, don't take that the wrong way. It's just, what happened to the rest of the family?"

She grabbed some spare paper and a pencil. "Parents resorted to smoking and gambling, after you left, and fire burned down the house. I bought this apartment with what little money they had left, and had a part time job to make it this far in school, but I don't have enough for next year. The other kids made it out, but we went our separate ways. Tabitha stills visits, and she's become rather pleasant to be around, but not Adam."

"Oh my god, it must've been devastating."

I looked around the small apartment. It had multiple pieces of art scattered throughout it ranging from simple doodles, to elaborate drawings with perfect details and perspective.

"Wow, you're a good artist, aren't you?"

She blushed, and shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm serious; you should sell these to make money. People would pay a fortune." She shook her head, almost in frustration. "Oh, you don't want to sell them because each one is special to you?"

She nodded.

I looked out the one window, showing the streets. I saw walking ducks, talking animals, three ducklets running a shop, and a man with a large Gunblade. I also saw Faith.

"Hey Quint, there's your wife."

He looked, and rushed down. He talked to her a little, and then came right back. We introduced Amy to her, and so on.

For the next hour or so, we noticed everyone, and we brought them to the apartment, and introduced them to Amy. We all had an agreement that we would stay here for the sheer fact of seeing family and friends, and taking a break from the whole ordeal in Quint's world. Sora and friends said that this was Radiant Garden, and place that they were familiar with. They went to see their friends, and for the next month or two, that where they stayed.

By then, my legs healed, enough, but one of my arms was having trouble. At least I could still practice with my sword arm. Since we were a Keyblade wielding family, I sparred with Amy. She was good, real good, but no match for yours truly.

See the thing about our family was if you weren't strong you always got the short end of the crap. You would have to become strong in order to get respect. I never gained a Keyblade until after I ran away, and I went to the Door to Darkness, and got locked in. So I was always the target for ridicule.

Then we heard footsteps approach us. We were greeted by a woman in her late twenties. She looked stuck up. Amy ran up and hugged her, and they enjoyed a little moment together. "Hey there, squirt, who is she?" she had a British accent.

"I'm Alyssa, who are you?"

"Alyssa Calegarae?"

"Yeah, who are you?" I repeated.

"Where have you been?" the woman yelled. "You've been gone for, like, 13 years! It's me, Tabitha."

"Oh, you." I mumbled coldly.

She didn't seem to notice.

"We've been worried sick!" she continued. "You didn't say goodbye, leave a note, nothing!"

"And why do you think that is?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Adam always picked on me because I couldn't use a Keyblade." I summoned the Key. "I lived with that my whole life. Then I met real friends. I didn't need you anymore."

"I'm sorry about your early life, but I changed for you and Amy. Adam hasn't, but he's gone. We won't pick on you anymore."

"You better not, or I'll melt down all your molecules."

"Well, that's harsh."

"You must realize that I've come to despise you with all of my being!"

"And it won't be easy to earn your trust, yeah, yeah, yeah. But anyway, it's great to see you!" she got me in a bear hug, as if I hadn't uttered a word.

"Get…off. Of…me." I ordered slowly.

She did so, and summoned her Keyblade. "Want to have a match?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I wouldn't be able to restrain myself from killing you." I said as I walked off.

I explored the town. I met Huey, Dewy, and Louie, Cid, and Leon. Then I found Sora. He was shopping with Kairi. It must've been killing him. He was staring at me, as if begging for help. I did nothing, just laughed.

Well, I continued along, looking around, when I ran into Riku. "Oh, hey Alyssa, have you seen Xion?"

"No. Why, isn't she with you?"

"No. I'm getting worried about her."

"Don't worry. She can take care of herself."

Just then, I felt like I was having a hot flash or…something. I doubled over, but Riku caught me.

"Whoa, try not to lose you balance."

"Yeah…thanks."

He walked off.

What was that? It wasn't a hot flash. I didn't lose my balance. Hmmm, now I was worrying about Xion a little.

I put it out of my mind. She's fine. She's a tough piece of shit.

Anyway, soon, I went back to Amy's apartment, only hoping that Tabitha was gone. And of course she was still there. As soon as I got there, I was attacked. Tabitha's Keyblade was swung right at my face. I barely had time to react. I ducked a little awkwardly because of my arm.

I looked up. Tabitha was smiling. "Just like old times, huh?"

"I want to forget about it."

"Not until we have a match."

"I said no."

"I'm just trying to let you vent your anger for me."

"I'm leaving."

"What's wrong? You scared?"

"…"

I went the other way.

I felt something whiz past my arm, and then my ear. I barely made out the word fight. As it whizzed past my arm, it took off the cast, and healed it. I moved it, and it didn't hurt like hell. Whoa, that's cool. I am so jealous of whoever did this.

This essence got the better of me. I summoned the Key, and attacked Tabitha. She ran away from the house. I shot a pure lightning bolt at her. She just hopped over it. I chased her to a field. I shot wave after wave of my psychic energy at her, but she dodged it all. Then I went in close. A thrust, a cross slash that I learned from Cloud, even fucking lava. She dodged all of it with graceful cartwheels and flips. And I was almost out of power.

I continued using powerful attacks, and it was completely draining me. Soon, I could barely stand. I couldn't fight anymore, and I only accomplished making a fool of myself. I fell to my hands and knees, panting.

"Are you okay?"

I wanted to tell her to shut her mouth, but I couldn't. I let my body fall to the ground. I stayed that way for a while slowly regaining strength. I pushed up with my arms, and slowly got up. But then I only fell back down from exhaustion.

"You definitely have grown, but you'll never beat me if you're that slow."

Those words hit me. How could I have been so stupid? She was dodging everything with plenty of time to spare, but I couldn't see it because of my rage. I decided to let my body take a break, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

When I woke up, I was on the couch of Amy's apartment. Cloud was next to me. "Um, hi there." He said. I lay back down. "So you lost, so what?"

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"A guy can't miss a cat fight."

"You're a pervert."

"You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good, because your friends are disappearing."

"What do you mean?"

I mean they're gone. First Xion, then Riku, then Sora, and finally Kairi. I don't think us two can beat whoever did this alone if they got all of your friends under our nose."

I thought about who could've done it. Then I thought about who healed my arm and told me to fight Tabitha. I put the pieces together, and figured they were the same person.

"Well, if we can't beat them, then I'm going to go get some help."

I put my hand out, and it created a portal to Danielle's dimension. I walked through it and found myself in a red world. Literally, red sky, red ocean, red grass. Almost immediately, I was ambushed.

They were little dwarf people. "Halt, who goes there?"

"Uh…"

I didn't know what to say.

"I'm, um, looking for a girl named Danielle."

"She's a spy." One of them whispered. "We should take her to the chief."

"Come with us."

I followed them into woods of some kind. Eventually we came to a clearing, which had basically the CIA operating in it. Then they led me to a man in black. "Who is she?"

"We don't know, but she was snooping around, looking for the other prisoner."

"Prisoner?"

"Eh, throw her in a cell."

"What?"

I sighed, but did as I was told. I was pushed into a cell with Danielle.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's good to see you too. I need your help."

"I'm kind of in jail."

"Can you help?"

"Sure, if you can get us out of here."

I made another portal to my own dimension. We both walked through it. "Whoa, this is different."

"It's Radiant Garden."

"Yeah, but in my dimension, everything is basically hellish in every world. What do you need my help with?"

"Well, Sora and the others have been kidnapped, I'm humiliated, and I was beaten by my sister. Is that enough?"

"Sure, but why do you need my help?"

"Um…"

"I thought so. So how much weaker are you than them?"

"…Um…"

She sighed.

"Duck."

I dropped low to the ground. Our ambusher was blown back by a mysterious force.

"Whoa, where'd you learn that?"

"What do you think I've been doing for the past year?"

"So your time flows faster than in mine."

"Anyway, I think we've found your friends' kidnappers."

I turned around, and saw a familiar, sort of, face. It was an ugly lady with snakes for hair. "Medusa, aren't you dead?" Danielle asked.

"Not even close. Your little stunt was merely a scratch."

"Yeah right and why were you bloody, on the ground and not breathing? Whatever I'm making sure you die this time."

She put her hand out, and the same mysterious force chopped of Medusa's head.

"What- You didn't have to kill her!"

As soon as her body hit the ground, Xion popped into existence.

She sort of collapsed.

We carried her back to the apartment. Tabitha and Amy were there already, and so was Cloud. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, when did you get a twin?!" Tabitha asked.

"She's not, and it's none of your business."

"Hey I'm Danielle, Dani for short, could you give us a hand?"

"We don't need help."

She sighed. We put her on the couch.

"So, yeah, basically, I'm her from the next dimension."

"O…kay?"

"And you are?"

"I'm Tabitha, Alyssa's sister, so is Amy."

"Don't you recognize them?"

"I don't have any biological sisters. If I did, they died. The only person who I can call family is you."

Well that's weird.

Anyhoo, by now, Xion was coming to. "Un, oh man, my head."

"Xion, what happened?"

"Something has the others. They said something about…challenges. Alyssa has to face them alone."

"You know what? No. I did not come here for nothing." Danielle complained.

"What else?"

"She said she's looking forward to seeing you again."

"She who?"

"…I can't remember."

Just then, the entire, like, universe shook. Then a giant gaping hole was made in the wall by a hand. The hand was pulled out, and it revealed Hades. What was he doing here? At the end of the last, like, thing Danielle said she killed him.

"Oh my god this is not happening." Tabitha complained.

Danielle and I leapt out of the apartment to face him.

"Heh, just like when we beat Etro, huh?"

"Don't remind me. I never want her image in my head again."

"Okay, but we were a pretty badass team."

"Hey, I'll race you to his neck."

"Hmm, after you."

"Your mistake."

I dashed forward, not even thinking about what I was doing, just kind of…doing it. He punched, I dodged, I jumped on his hand, ran up his arm, but when I got to the top, Danielle was already there.

"Is everyone faster than me?"

"And you said you were the better fighter."

"Well…I was back then but-"

"Now I don't even need a Keyblade to beat you."

"I doubt that but we should finish this guy before we test that."

Then Hades flipped over. Danielle flew off, still not knowing how to stick to things, and then Hades stepped on her.

"Well, you're on your own. I can't get out of this, seriously."

I summoned the Key, and carved a gash in Hades' back with gravity on my side. Yay! Then I plunged the thing into his heart. He fell over, dead. "And you complained to me about killing people."

"How about that test? Ready? Go!"

I was going to swing, but something caught my arm. Then the same thing grabbed my other limbs.

"I win."

"How are you doing this?"

"They're called vectors. They're psychic hands that have a reach of about 6 meters. Unfortunately, they cause anger, and anger leads to killing, and killing leads to an impure heart, which leads to no Keyblade."

The vectors let go. "So that's why you didn't break out of jail."

"Yes, I promised never to kill anyone innocent."

"Well, there's Riku."

I looked toward him, and he was getting up. We went to him. "Hey, you should rest. Xion's fine: you don't have to worry about her. Now come on."

I was curious about who did this, but they should save their energy. I also wondered what challenge would come next. Well, it never came, yet. It took them about a month, but Riku and Xion made a recovery from whatever was affecting them. They didn't know themselves, so we had no idea. I'm now even more worried about Sora and Kairi.

Well, this is what happened.

You see, one day, me and Danielle were sparring, almost like we used to, except she always won. I discovered that since psychic things use part of your aura, I can see her vectors when I look at her aura. Now, seeing and dodging are two totally different things, hence why she always wins.

Then she held her head. "Huh? What's wrong Danielle?"

She screamed in pain.

"Ahh, what's happening? Why are you in my head?" she yelled.

"What are you talking about?"

After that, she just kind of stopped. Her hair fell to cover her eyes. "I am the third challenge."

"Huh?"

Her vectors hit square in the stomach.

"I won't fight you (cough). Oh, god that hurts."

"You must, or you will die."

I closed my eyes, and saw her aura and vectors. They were going right through my head, right next to my brain. "Okay, I'll fight."

"Good, if I kill you, she won't even have a chance."

"She who?"

Her vectors retracted themselves. I summoned the Key, and waited for her to strike. She didn't. I waited some more. Then her vectors attacked. I leaped over one of them, but the others caught my leg, and threw me to the ground. Well, more like into a hole.

"Oh god my head." I mumbled.

I sensed her coming nearer to the hole. I sprang up as soon as she was in sight. I swung at her arm as hard as I could, but I was still careful not to chop her arm off. I still managed to injure her enough for me to gain the upper hand, for a millisecond. Then she swatted me away.

After I got up, I moved faster than the naked eye could see. I knocked her into the woods, where I would have the advantage. I climbed up onto a tree, and searched for her, but I could not find her.

I kept scanning. "Who are you looking for?"

I turned only to be knocked into another hole.

"You know, maybe I should've left you in your hellhole."

"I know I'm proving more of a nuisance than help." She said in a very monotone voice.

Then, the trees started levitating, and then they all tried to squish me. I barely had time to jump out of the way. Well, not fully. Actually, it caught my ankle. It didn't hurt, but I could tell it was bleeding.

As I struggled to free it, her vectors closed around my neck. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Yeah. I guess you're better than me now."

She squeezed more air out of me.

"Danielle, stop!"

Ventus burst through the trees. Danielle released me. I freed my ankle, and it was bleeding heavily.

"Get out of here." She ordered.

"Not a chance. I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Go away. I don't want to kill you."

"Trust her, she could do it." I called.

"Nobody asked you." He said quickly. "Come on, you didn't get mind controlled already did you?"

"You're one to talk." She said in her regular voice. Then she held her head and writhed in pain. "Ahh, get out of my head!"

She continued screaming for a minute. Then, a…essence came out of her. It slowly took shape. I stood petrified, frozen with fear. "E-E-Etro…" I whispered.

"Yes, your goddess has returned. I really have missed you Alyssa."

I couldn't come up with a witty response; I was too scared out of my mind.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?"

She smirked, did her eyebrow thing, and launched an attack that would've crippled me. Instead, Tabitha jumped in the way, and took the blunt of the attack. "Heh, do you trust me now?" she asked before falling to the ground.

Realizing she would've sacrificed herself for me, yes, I did trust her now with all my heart. As I came to this conclusion, I subconsciously put part of my soul out the first person that touched me. I also walked to right in front of her. She had no hesitation. She punched me square in the stomach. That meant some of my soul was transferred into her.

According to the Key, my soul is pure. I would never kill anyone innocent, though I wasn't above making idol threats. If even a fraction of me was put into her. At least for a short while, she couldn't kill a fly. She raised her hand for the killing blow, but couldn't do it. "You will not strike down me or anyone else this day. This day you will leave us alone."

"I see you've enchanted me. I may not kill you, but I will make you suffer."

She struck me repeatedly. I blocked most of it, but some of it hit, namely the blow to my leg, and a couple bad bruises.

Eventually, she stopped. "You may have succeeded in steering me off this time, but hear my words. Next, you will be ashes."

Then she disappeared in a bright light, and was replaced by Sora and Kairi, who are in about as good shape as Danielle, a broken limb, a couple bruises here and there, and permanent damage to their soul, which was minor, but still very prominent.

Fang and Tifa carried them back, while Cloud carried me back, and Ventus carried back Danielle. I don't know about Tabitha. I fell asleep before I could figure it out.

As I woke up, I was freezing. I pulled the covers of the shared bed close to me. I coughed, though I don't know why. I didn't think I caught anything. Then I sneezed. After that, I was burning hot. I removed the covers, and started breathing heavily.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. You've been stealing my share of the covers all day." Someone moaned from the other side of the bed. I turned and saw Kairi.

"Then why aren't you sleeping with Sora?"

"Too tired."

"Is he that much of a pain?"

She nodded.

I slid my feet to the floor, only to find one in blood red bandages. I put weight on them, and it hurt, but I still limped out so Kairi could sleep. I searched for Tabitha. I wanted to thank her.

I found her on the couch. She looked pretty burnt, like that time when Danielle was blown up. Except this time it was much worse. Amy was by her side. "Um, Tabitha?"

They both looked at me.

"Uh, thank you, for, um, saving my life."

"You're welcome. Do you trust me yet?"

"Yes, with all of my heart."

"That's nice. Adam will be another story, if you ever see him again."

"I'll put him in his place."

"You do that, but maybe you should replace those bandages."

"I'm fine. I'm going to look for the guys. Do you know where they went?"

"They're over at Leon's house."

"Okay, see ya. I hope you feel better."

"You too."

I continued to Leon's house. He and the Restoration Committee were there, waiting things out. Sora was resting there, and Danielle was staring out by the window.

"Hi guys. How is he doing?"

"He'll make it, but it might take a few days. How are you?"

"I could be better. How is she holding up?" I motioned to Danielle.

"She won't suck up her pride."

"I understand that."

I grabbed her hand, and pulled her outside.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what's wrong."

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Bull crap. Admit that you were used to get to me, even if you didn't want to."

"I know I was, and it's humiliating."

"Listen, it is fine. Nobody blames you."

"…I'm sorry about your ankle."

"It wasn't you fault. She's stronger than all of us, even you. You couldn't help it."

"Aren't you thinking? She could kill us all right now if she wanted to. We're all leverage for her to get her revenge. We're only getting in the way."

"That may be, but I can't fight her. I don't stand a chance, I never did, but we still beat her by working together, didn't we?"

"Yeah, it only cost me my Keyblade…" she mumbled.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

"You gave up your Keyblade?"

"Drop it."

"No, this is serious."

"I said drop it!"

Her vectors grabbed my throat. She glared at me, but then realized what she was doing, and let go.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Why did you do that?" I yelled. "You could've killed me!"

"I know that! I told you! Don't ever get me angry! These things were my payback for greed and desperation. After I beat Hades, I absorbed him, that's how I helped you and how I came back to life. When I went back, I lusted for power again. I asked my Etro to give me back my power, she gave me these. I slaughtered entire villages, killed thousands of people. When I realized I'd been deceived, I gave up, and was thrown in jail. Then you found me, and I thought everything would be like before, but no! I was tricked again by that witch! Now do you understand?!I don't deserve power. I don't deserve remorse. I deserve to still be in hell! I want to thank you. You took me in when you knew I was pure evil. You treated me like family. But I can't thank you, because then my life would have no meaning, and I would kill myself."

"While you were killing those people, would you have killed me, or Sora, or any of the others?"

She stared at the ground. "Yes."

"Then leave."

"I'm sorry."

"Leave and never come back, until you have your heart back."

"Okay, fine, I don't deserve your kindness anymore, not now, not ever."

She walked away. Neither of us had any emotion for each other anymore. She was like family, but she couldn't be forgiven. She was disappointed, but she knew why.

Just then, Cloud walked out. "So, where's she going?"

"Away from us, where she can't hurt people."

"Is she ever coming back?"

"I don't know. It depends on if she gets her pure heart back."

"You'll miss her, won't you?"

"Yeah, but I can't be friends with a murderer."

"I see. Well, how about I replace those bandages on your foot?"

"Okay…"

As he started taking off the bloody ones, I saw my foot was mangled, still bleeding, and covered in blood. I wanted to puke looking at my own wound; I don't know how Cloud managed.

Yuffie giggled. "Somebody's got a girlfriend." We both blushed. "I thought it would be Tifa."

"I did too, for a long time. Then I met Alyssa." He replied.

"Whether he picked Tifa or me, I would still have…great respect for him."

"'Great respect'? It's more like you two are madly in love."

We blushed even more.

"So how did you guys meet?"

"Well, after Sora and Tifa watched me and Sephiroth disappear, we were transported to a different world. I continued searching, but couldn't find him. It turns out; she'd been fighting him the whole time. Then a war between that world's gods and a large band of Keyblade wielders erupted. After the Keywielders won, the world turned to hell, so I started a resistance movement. After about eight years, I found Alyssa chained up in a prison where I was getting other prisoners. I mistook her for Danielle, so I didn't like her. Then I grew to know her. She's smart, funny, tactical, kind, caring, and she loved me the first time our eyes met."

"Yeah right, I was busy trying to get my hearing back from the little explosion you used." He just finished re-bandaging my foot.

"Nah, you were so in love."

"Aw, they're acting like a married couple already."

We blushed even more.

"Haha, come on guys, I think they've had enough torture." Sora said.

We had a laugh, and then there was silence. It was a little too quiet. I looked outside the window; no one was moving an inch inside or out. "Enjoying your little chat?" Etro asked.

I looked around, but didn't see her. I hopped up, and limped outside, to the field where I fought her last. She was there.

Fear coursed through my blood.

"Good, you still fear me. Every ounce of fear will make me stronger. Soon I will have control of this world as well."

"Over my dead body."

"That's the idea." She said. Then at a speed I couldn't hope to reach, she went behind me. We were now back to back. I took a short gasp. "Surprised?"

"Even I couldn't see you."

She turned around, and hit my leg. I keeled over.

"What do you expect? I'm a goddess."

"You're a demon with intents of universal domination. That's something I have a duty to make sure that it does not happen."

She frowned, and continually blasted my leg. I wouldn't scream though.

"What's the matter? You look like you need to cool off."

Then I was frozen in a block of ice.

She picked me up, and threw me in the air. She followed me, and kicked me straight through the ice and to the ground, shattering the ice.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?"

"I will have revenge. You must realize that."

"I was only protecting free will."

"Free will is not worth protecting."

She picked me up by the hair. Then she kneed my back. I felt a pop.

"Why can't you just kill me now?"

"That would be far too merciful. I will leave you be, for now. But before you die, I will give you a pain worse than death itself."

She threw me, and then I was back where I'd been when she stopped time, and then it started again. I was in a lot of pain, so I excused myself. I went back to Amy's apartment. I was in a daze all the time it took to walk there. Then when I did get there, I fell to the ground my back hurt so much.

I writhed, and squirmed trying to relieve myself from my back pains, but I couldn't. Wow, that made me sound like an old woman.

Amy and Tabitha watched.

I still wouldn't scream, for I knew Etro was listening. So I just clenched my teeth, and stretched and relocated my spinal cord. Ugh, it hurt so damn much. But after the initial pain died down, it felt soothing. I finally relaxed, but then I felt freezing, like when I first woke up.

"_Etro is doing this to you, ignore it._" The Crystal Kingdom Key told me.

I forced the feeling out of my mind and ignored it. I got up, and saw Tabitha and Amy cooking lunch.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" I asked Tabitha.

"I think you're the one who needs to rest. I only have bad burns, like sunburn, but you have a mangled foot, back problems, and a dislocated leg, and you've been acting strangely. For example, you're shivering when it's 80 degrees in here."

I rubbed my arms, as I was freezing.

"It's nothing. It'll clear up."

"What'll clear up? It's her, isn't it? The woman who attacked you?"

"She's far from a woman. She's a demon that I defeated about three months ago, but somehow she resurrected herself. I still have nightmares about her."

Then I was hot.

"Um, Alyssa, you're sweating."

"I hate her!"

They looked at each other. "Listen, maybe you should get some rest."

Amy started pushing my back lightly, and she herded me to the bed. Kairi was up reading a book. "I see she attacked you again. Are you feeling okay?"

"How could you tell?"

"You limping worse than usual, much worse, and you're holding your back, as if it aches, and you're also hunched over, when you always stand erect."

"Oh." I replied as I climbed in. "I'll try not to steal your covers."

"No, go ahead. I'm about to go eat and see the guys. I just want to finish the chapter."

I lie down, pull the covers onto me, and fell asleep.

When I woke up, it was nighttime already. I got up for some water, but my back and leg still hurt like hell. I eventually gave up, and got back in bed, but I couldn't get to sleep.

So, I just waited for morning to come. By then, Amy came to check on me. She slid the door open a little. "Come in." I whispered.

She stepped in quietly as to not wake up Kairi. She held her stomach.

"No, I'm not very hungry."

She left, and came back with a piece of paper. It read "Do you need anything?"

"No, that's fine. I wouldn't want to bother you." I said as I started to stand up, but Amy pushed me back down. I sighed. "Okay, I'll sit out the day and rest. You seem to want me to do so."

She smiled, and wrote down a small note. It read "Just call me if you need something."

"Okay, will do."

The day went by pretty slowly for me. Nothing exciting happened for once. I had constant visits from Cloud, and Amy, but that's it. The next day was about the same, but I spent the majority of it at Leon's place.

Other than that, nothing exciting happened that day either.

By the time the third day rolled by, my back was healed, and my leg…Well, my leg was numbed because of the extreme pain it caused me yesterday, but I could still walk on it.

Because of this, I decided to train. Tabitha said she would rather not humiliate me again, yeah right, so I got Cloud.

"Okay Alyssa, you've got to work double over time for the next week." I mumbled to myself, and I did.

I did yoga to help myself heal, and I trained with Cloud with the rest of my time that Amy didn't make me rest. By the time I said I was back in shape, my leg fully healed, and I actually saw new skin on my foot, when we bandaged it for the fifth time this week. It still was bleeding though, and it still occasionally got me lightheaded.

When I was training, I focused more on speed rather than strength, like I normally would. I got much faster reflexes at attacking opportunities and blocking hits. I knew I was still no match for Etro, so I would keep training, and I would win.

I won't let her make me destroy another world.

After my week of training, I started sitting around with Tabitha and Amy, like she wants me to, and I had a lot of fun. I still turned around occasionally, just to make sure she wasn't there. But other than that, it was nice to spend some quality time with family other than Quint.

I still trained though, just not as vigorously. I took it at my own pace, not the pace I was self pressured into doing.

After that, she hindered me again. She caused Amy to get an illness that rendered her incapable of running the apartment. I had to clean, and care for her, as Tabitha had gone home. As much as I tried to train, her needs outweighed mine, so I didn't really have a choice. Plus she was family, I couldn't let her die.

So, for the next three weeks, I couldn't train. I worked triple overtime after Kairi offered to care for her, and Cloud constantly asked for breaks, when we couldn't have any. Often times I would run out of energy, and sit for a half an hour, and then we would continue, but other than that, I couldn't afford to take any breaks.

As the days went on, I focused more on endurance. I found that if I use powers constantly for more than five minutes, I would be, like, completely drained of energy. I aimed for thirty minutes at the least. I achieved forty, but that's as far as I bothered.

I was still scared shitless of her and that's probably making her stronger, but I would die if it meant saving my friends, family, and this world.

My foot was still in bad shape, and at night I found that the bandages were bloody again. The next day, Tabitha came back. I begged her to fight me, but she still said no.

Eventually, I gave up, and went to the woods to train. Everything went fine, for about an hour. Then Etro appeared, again. Is this getting old to anyone but me?

Anyway, she appeared in her demon form.

"Good, you're alone."

"What do you want this time?"

"You know what I want, and I will get it."

"I don't think so." I raised my blade.

She went behind me.

"I see you still can't keep up."

I made an afterimage, a trick I learned from Danielle, and I teleported to a tree, and then I made another afterimage, and moved to a different tree.

She turned, and swung at the afterimage. "Hmm, I see you learned a new trick."

I made multiple me's. Then I blended in behind one of them.

"You don't get it do you?"

Just then, the afterimage in front of me disappeared, and I was blown onto the ground.

"I don't get what?"

"You can't possibly win. You threw away your life years ago when you chose not to serve me."

"I'm not going to let you win!"

"You may not let me, but I will. Believe me, you haven't seen a third of my speed and power yet."

"She may not have, but I did." I blinding light appeared in front of me.

Soon, it took the form of three beings and I recognized all of them. It was Lady Palutena, Pit and Pittoo.

"Are you okay?" Pit asked.

"I'm fine, just fight."

They all charged, and as soon as I got my strength back, I joined them. However, I wasn't much help, as I couldn't tell where she would pop up next, but they seemed to.

"Please, she's after you. Leave this to us." Palutena asked.

"But-"

"Go, we'll take her out of this world."

I didn't want to, but I ran out of the woods, and I turned to find another bright light. Tabitha and Amy came out. "What happened?"

"Etro, but I think we're fine now. Palutena took her away."

"Who's Palutena?"

"She's the goddess of light."

"Okay, so she's a friend?"

"Yeah, a good one."

We went back to the house. I was exhausted from making so many afterimages that were useless. The next week was uneventful. I trained and rested. I swapped between those two.

Then I had a dream. It was of Etro, of course, and she was laughing. "Well, well, well, it looks like I have you now."

She held up a limp figure. I soon saw it was Amy, and then she held up another one, and it was Tabitha. "If you want them back, I will allow you."

Then I jolted awake. I sprang up from my bed, no doubt waking up Kairi, and checked their room, they were gone. Kairi appeared in the doorway. "What happened?" she asked drowsily.

"Etro, she took them. Etro, come get me. It's me you want."

"Correct, now hold still."

I felt the wind beneath my feet, and then the ground was back again. I saw Etro sitting on a devilish throne. I saw Tabitha and Amy hanging by their necks, struggling to keep their fingers between their necks and the psychic energy that holds them.

I stepped forward.

"Ah, ah, ah. If you come any closer, you'll have three more deaths on your hands." She motioned over to our side. I saw Palutena, Pit and Pittoo chained to a wall, and it looked like even Palutena was too weak to get free.

"No please don't hurt them. I beg of you."

"You beg? Maybe I should just kill them now."

"Why? They didn't do anything."

"I only want to see your best before you die. When we were fighting, I could tell you were holding back, or was that your best? You're pathetic." I opened my mouth to speak. "Go ahead, insult me, and just prepare for the consequences."

"No, I just want you to let them go, and then I'll do whatever you want."

"Hmm, a tempting offer, but I'll have to refuse."

She put her hand out, and I was chained to the floor by her immensely powerful psychic energy. Then she crawled into my head.

"Oh look a spinal cord!"

I felt extreme pain to my back, but I wouldn't yell.

"Trust me; you will deafen yourself with the sound of your own screams of pain and terror, eventually."

"Oh look, a knee cap!"

Then it felt like she was ripping apart my leg, but I wouldn't cry for help.

"Oh look, a rib cage!"

Then it felt like hell itself was burning inside my rib cage, but I wouldn't scream.

"Scream! I wish to hear it."

"I won't give you the pleasure."

She continued hitting my now broken bones. Then I finally squealed. I yelled at the top of my lungs, releasing the pain, but it still came.

"Good girl. Now, before I kill you, I will force you to watch me kill your friends in the slowest, most painful way you can think of."

"You will do no such thing!"

We turned our heads to the disturbance. It was Danielle. Behind her were our friends, she freed them. "Stupid girl. You were so easy to control before, what makes you think this time will be any different?"

"Go ahead and try it."

She put her hand out. Danielle didn't move a muscle.

"But how? No one has escaped my control."

"It's called self-control, you should learn it, and you should know your place!"

Etro was knocked back through the wall, into the horizon. Her psychic energy dissipated. Danielle came toward me. "Did you get back your pure heart?" I managed to ask.

"No, but I now actually have self-control, unlike you, so, she banged you up pretty good. It was painful to watch after I freed your friends."

"Wait, you could've saved me before, yet you waited?"

"Um, I wasn't thinking straight?"

I let it go. Palutena and the angels were coming to. "Oh man, she really got us good huh?" Pit said.

"Humph, she just caught me off guard." Pittoo replied as he flew away.

"Lady Palutena! Are you okay?"

"Ugh, I'll be alright, but I don't have the energy to get us back?"

"I do though, grab on."

She teleported there and back in a flash. Tabitha and Amy came to my side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a sore throat." Tabitha croaked.

"You sound terrible."

"You sound worse."

Danielle teleported us back. Kairi was reading her book.

"Hmm, I see Danielle's back. I see Alyssa's been tortured again, and I see Tabitha and Amy were held hostage." She said without raising her eyes.

"Yeah well…"

"It' fine." She said as lifted her head, and closed her book. "You go take care of your necks, I take care of Alyssa."

They didn't like it, but they were herded to their room.

"So, what hurts?" she asked as she kneeled down.

"Everything…"

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the pain?"

"7,000,000."

"What did she hit?"

"My spinal cord, my right leg, and my rib cage."

"Do you mind if I have a look?"

I shook my head. She lifted whatever shirt I had on up, and felt around. When she touched my ribs, I cried out in extreme, painful pain. Wow, painful pain, that's redundantly redundant.

"Sorry, I'll be gentler."

She felt around a bit more.

"I don't know what to say other than you're the only person alive who could've lived through this, well, maybe not. Okay, I'll need you to turn over." She ordered very slowly.

She helped, and I used my arms to keep my ribs off the ground. She felt around, and it hurt like you would not believe. Okay, random tangent, I'm finding it hard to describe my pain.

"Hey, how do you know this stuff anyway?"

"Hey, I'm as much of a dedicated white mage as you're gonna get, so live with it."

"Sorry, sorry…"

Anyhoo, once she said she was finished, she helped me turn back over.

"I can already tell by the way you can't move it that's your leg is completely shattered."

"Then what do we do?"

"Well, you rest. I'm going to go get some more help."

I did just that for, like, three days maybe. Kairi had Aerith come over, and she checked my injuries too. They thought of some ideas that might work, but they never went through with them.

Were they dildos?! I know I'm being a bit harsh, but don't they understand that I am scared for my life and in a lot of pain, and they should do something to relieve me of it?!

"Okay, could you please just do something?"

"Well, we could, but we just don't want you to die."

"We'll patch up your back, we'll bandage your ribs, and let them all heal of their own, how about that?"

"That's fine, just do it!"

They sedated me, I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I felt a lot better. I couldn't walk, obviously, but thanks to myself, I could levitate.

Since I could do that, I could do anything but train, basically. While resting and getting fat, I discovered video games. In most of my spare time, I was addicted to a certain series called The Legend of Zelda. It was intoxicating, and I was instantly hooked.

It had excellent music, great gameplay, and clever puzzles, especially in The Ocarina of Time. They should make a video game about Sora, Donald, and Goofy's adventures, those would be pure gold.

I also taught myself how to play the piano. My favorite songs to play were the Minuet of Forest, the Serenade of Water, and the Song of Storms, all from Ocarina of time. Those songs were great. I love the tranquility of the first two, and I love the elegance of Song of Storms, and…oh my lord I'm spending too much time explaining this.

Anyway, eventually, I did get better. My back didn't hurt much anymore, and my ribs, from being used to healing themselves, are completely healed. My leg, well, that was going to take a while anyway.

I slept through some days completely. I don't know why, but some days, I only barely have the energy to drink my share of water, and then I would pass out from exhaustion.

One night, I woke to a knock at the door. Everyone else was asleep, so I opened the door, yawning. It was Cloud and Danielle, and Cloud looked in need of mild medical attention.

"What happened?" I asked drowsily.

"He told me to fight, I fought, we watched the sunset, and ta-da."

"Come on in."

I levitated to the couch; Danielle set Cloud down, and inspected my healing leg and back. "Isn't this a checkup on Cloud?"

"You can never be too sure."

"How bad did you beat him?"

"I didn't inflict anything that won't heal by tomorrow. Just bruises, a dislocated shoulder, the works."

"Why'd you come over here and wake me up?"

"Well, we couldn't very well go to the Restoration Committee, I mean seriously. And we weren't going to sleep outside."

I yawned. "Okay, explain yourself to the others in the morning. Danielle can sleep on the couch, Cloud gets the floor, and I'll be right back with pillows."

I got them pillows, and then I got back in bed. "Who was at the door?" Kairi asked.

"Danielle and Cloud, Cloud's hurt, sorry for waking you up."

"You don't sound too worried. Is he that much of a pain?" she asked.

I nodded, and fell asleep.

When I woke up, it was one of those days, man. I got up, ate breakfast, and passed out on the couch. When I woke up from that, people were scattered. Kairi was outside with Sora, Xion with Riku, Cloud by my side, Tifa, I don't care, Quint with Faith, Amy, and Tabitha. Aqua coming over here with Terra, and Ventus with Danielle, who had her eyes trained on the sun.

I heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

Aqua and Terra came in.

"Hey bed hair." She greeted.

"Hey straight hair." I greeted back.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm tarred, but other than that, I'm fine."

"How are you tired? You've been resting for, like, two weeks."

The guys went off to do…guy things.

"How are you?"

"I'm just perfect. I'm still worried about your leg."

"It'll heal, hopefully. If it doesn't, I'll get them to plant a steel leg skeleton in it. I'll be right back."

I went to the restroom, and got a hair brush. Then I went back to the couch. I started brushing my hair.

"Man, I have so many knots in my hair."

"Despite how much we've been friends, I've never ever seen you brush your hair, yet it always stayed perfectly straight."

"You mean like yours?"

"Yes, but mine was shorter, so it didn't flop around when I fought."

I let my head fall to a resting position.

"It's one of those days, huh?"

"Yeah, but I can still talk if you want."

"No, it's fine, I can tell you're exhausted."

"No, it's just the medication they have me on."

"They don't have you on medication."

"Oh, well, uh, I guess I'm just loopy in the head."

"Hey, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm just dandy."

She felt my forehead.

"You don't feel particularly warm. Hmm…"

"I'm fine, don't worry. I just tired for no apparent reason."

"That's part of the reason I'm concerned."

"Wow, you're more mature than you were ten years ago."

"Yeah, but it's only felt like two or three."

"That's because it was to us, remember?"

"Oh yeah, ah, those were some good times."

"Not really. That was when we found out the world turned to shit."

"Maybe, but that's when you met the man who I'm sure you'll marry."

"Oh, shut up."

Just then, Quint came in a belched really loudly. We waited, and then laughed our asses off. "What did I do?"

"You belched man, and it was hilarious."

"Well, we are guys."

Cloud followed him in, with Terra. They were all carrying a glass of beer.

"Please tell me you're not drunk."

"We're not, well, I don't know about them." Quint replied.

I sighed, and levitated outside, to talk with Danielle. Ventus had gone to hang out with Aqua, or something, so she was alone. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Planning what I'm going to do."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it can be in this dimension."

"Why not?"

"Come on, you know what happened the last time I was here for too long. Our emotions both got out of control to the point of us becoming hostile toward the people around us."

"Well, I see where you're coming from, but…"

"I'm sorry; I just don't want to take any chances. I wish I could help you with Etro, but…"

"No, it's fine. We'll find a way, we always did. I understand you decision, and blah, blah, blah." I made a portal back to her dimension. She chuckled. "Well, I'll come visit you sometime. Please promise me you won't be in jail when I come."

"I'll try, but I might be on the run. I can't forget what I did to tear apart people's families. I still have to pay for what I've done."

We hugged, and after saying goodbye to the others, she went through the portal. Somehow, I get the feeling that we'll need her again.

For the next, I don't know, year it was like this. Sora and the Keywielders are long gone, and my leg has regenerated. Man, I don't want to leave now man. Then I would have to leave Amy and Tabitha. Quint, Fang, Tifa, Cloud, and Faith are staying here too.

Ah whatever, I'll leave later.

For now, I'm relaxing. I haven't been training as much, because it seems like Etro's taking a break too.

Amy approached me as I was lying down on the grass. I got up and yawned. "Hey Amy, good morning." She waved back, and ruffled her hair. "What?"

She pointed at her hair. I felt mine, and it was like Medusa.

"How about I make us some breakfast, after I brush my hair, then you can go to school?"

She nodded.

I made us a couple omelets. They were her favorite breakfast. Also, I managed to do some stuff for the people in town, and got enough money for Amy to go to school for another year.

I sent her off to school, and then just relaxed. I decided to go visit Lady Palutena. Once I teleported there, I noticed everything was up and running. See the last time I was here was right before it was destroyed, and an anti-god generator was set up.

I went to her throne. It was elegant, but not "Hey look, I'm higher than you" elegant.

"Hello Alyssa. It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you too."

"How's your leg?"

"Oh it's healed. How's the new world?"

"It's fine, and it's still the same world. Just with different people."

"Listen, I really sorry for um…"

"No, you did the right-ish thing. If you hadn't, it might've been worse."

"So, no hard feelings?"

"Sure."

"…"

"…"

"Well, this is awkward."

"Anyway, how is Amy?"

"Well, she's back in school, she getting to be a good fighter, and she can beat me in a game of chess. How's Pit?"

"Same as always."

"I always thought you two would make a good couple."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking out loud, hint, hint."

"Oh, no, we just…"

"Yeah, sure, I won't pressure either of you anymore."

"I…I don't know what you're talking about!" was her flustered reaction.

"You do know I can read your mind, right?"

Her face turned bright red, and then Pit came in.

"What's going on here? Did you egg her on?"

"Maybe, but in a different way."

She sighed, and he looked confused, while I was on the verge of busting out laughing.

"Anyway, I'm going to talk to Viridi about her Reset Bombs." He said as he left.

I turned back to Palutena.

"Ooohhh, who's this Viridi? Is she some competition?"

"You have five seconds."

"I get it, I should go, and hopefully you'll have cooled down in a month or two. See ya."

I teleported back, and chuckled to myself. I checked the time, and I still had another two hours before Amy got home. So I decided to pay Tabitha a visit. Her home is up in the mountains. She spent her days laboring to get enough wood to last her until the next day for firewood. I teleported over there.

"Hey, is Amy home yet?"

"Nah still got two hours. Need a hand?"

"Sure, if you can keep up."

We chopped, we gathered, we competed to see who could get more. It turns out I'm too slow. She won, as always.

"Hey, how about a match?"

"That depends; will you be a challenge to beat this time?"

"Just wait and see how much better I am!" I charged, fast, not with much power behind my attacks. She still dodged. I thought about this. Maybe I'm telegraphing my moves too much.

"Come and get me!"

If that was the case, I needed to change up my deck of cards. So, I created multiple afterimages, about 5 or so as to not tire myself out. I leapt to the top of a tree, out of sight. The afterimages charged her, and she ducked, and they passed harmlessly through her. She acted confused. I leapt, and landed on top of her, pinning her arms and legs down.

She smiled. "Words of advice, watch your back, and never stop acting."

I was confused by her words, until I was struck in the back of the head, knocking me off my game. I rolled to regain balance, and faced my opponent…or opponents. There were, umm 1, 2, 3, like four Tabitha's. They all charged me. I expected them to pass through me, but they hit me fast and hard.

"Whoa, those aren't afterimages!"

"Nope, just a little trick I made up." They all said.

They all charged again, and I was forced to retreat, while blocking their attacks. Okay, one Tabitha I could deal with blocking, two was harder, three was pushing it, but four was nearly too much. I didn't have time to attack them back. I had to teleport to dodge most of their attacks.

She chased me all the way back to the town and they were pretty used to it by now, with all the time we were fighting. She chased me even farther, to the bus stop, and by around this time, it should be coming any second.

This is where I figured something out. If she split her being into four separate entities, then that must mean that she split her power and speed into fourths. I really hope I got that right. Still they were fast.

I sensed one of them goes behind me, but I blasted it with psychic energy, and it was knocked way back, which wouldn't happen for just her. So, I released all of my energy into a big spherical wave of destruction. It knocked all of her onto one another, and they went back to the original, and she was put flat on her ass.

The only problem, it decimated the road, and the bus was waiting. I used my powers of levitation to transport the bus to the other side, and they let out Amy. She waved goodbye to her friends, and looked at us like "you two better fix this by dinner, or else you'll get it good." And then she went in to do her homework.

I went over to Tabitha, and held my hand out. She gratefully took it. "That was a good match. You finally learned to analyze your opponents and find their weaknesses."

"Oh please, it was common sense, not analysis. Anyway, Amy wants us to rebuild the road, since it was kind of your fault it was destroyed."

"My fault? You're the one that did it!"

"How else was I supposed to beat you?"

"You weren't, well, we better get started."

I used levitation, or telekinesis, or whatever you want to call it to put the cement back in place, or just in a very smooth pile. Tabitha was just as fast, despite having to use her hands. Once it was all smooth, I blasted it with ice to make it all solid, and squished together, then I blasted it with lava, which made it kind of liquidy, and then I cooled it down to make it a road again.

Just then, you know who appeared. Hey, I was actually surprised to see Etro, after her being calm for a year. We both readied our Keyblades. "Wait, I'm not here for a fight. I am still injured from your other's attack."

"Then maybe we should finish you off now!"

"Halt, I have a request. I want you to become stronger. I would like a fair fight, before I put an end to your meaningless existence."

"Since when have you played fair? I've heard enough, prepare to-"

She disappeared.

Well that was weird. Tabitha went back to her house, and I went into the upgraded apartment that we both bought, because the truth was, neither of us could support ourselves. It had two bathrooms, three bedrooms, a flat screen TV, and the complex of condos had a pool! Awesomesauce!

She was done with her homework, and was working on a drawing. She was best at drawing people she knew. She mostly drew her friends, me and Tabitha. This time, she was drawing her and her sisters watching the sunrise, or sunset, I could never tell because they're so similar.

"Hey, I finished the road; Tabitha went back to her house. How was school?"

She shrugged. I checked the time. It was 3 p.m.

"So, how's the drawing coming along?"

She didn't answer, for she knew that I knew that it was almost done. She'd spent an extra amount of time on it, and it was turning out to be her best yet. I, on the other hand, have been writing my own songs. My current one was called "Embrace the Blue Sky". I personally don't think my songs are that great, but at least Amy likes them.

I continued playing it, and mastering it, until around 5. Then I stopped, and started making pizza and hot dogs.

Man, I've been turning us into complete pigs, but neither of us, as I've seen, is getting any fatter.

Soon enough, Amy started grilling the dogs, while I made the Pizza from scratch. Once the hot dogs were done, we ate them, while the pizza was in the oven. Then we ate the entire thing. We washed the dishes, put them away, took baths, and got ready for bed. I put some lotion of my face, and then climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

Then next day, I went to see Cloud. He'd been staying with the Restoration Committee. See, their job is to protect the town from danger, mainly Heartless and Nobodies. Amy and Tabitha are members too, but Amy's in school, and Tabitha lives in the mountains. Plus, Tabitha is too powerful, so she comes in real emergencies, like, I don't know, Etro. And that's not foreshadowing.

Anyway, we spent the day together, basically.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I asked. He looked at me.

"Are you kidding? I, for once, get to choose where we go?"

"Don't push your luck, spike."

We laughed.

We, sorry, he decided to eat first. That's just like him, always thinking with his stomach. Anyway, we had a fancy breakfast, and then he "allowed" me to go shopping. He paid for everything, he was the boyfriend after all, and then we had a picnic for lunch.

That was peaceful, anyway, then we went shopping again, and then we went for dinner, and finally we went to a bar, got drunk, and had Tabitha come pick us up. After she dropped me off, she took Cloud back for them to deal with him.

I kind of…passed out onto the floor.

As I woke up the next morning, I had a terrible hangover. "Man, yesterday was Awesome." I said to myself. "But this hangover is lethal!"

I got up, and saw Amy had already gone to school. She left a note on the fridge.

"Dear Alyssa,

I've already gone to school if you're reading this. Since you have a hangover, I've left you some aspirin. Please try and take it easy today. I'll be back when I can.

Love, Amy."

I looked to my right, and saw three pills of the drug, and took them. From there, I ate lunch, because it was too late for breakfast. Then I watched TV for the rest of the day.

When Amy came home, I was in a daze from the blandness of the day. She had to snap me awake. "Huh? Oh, hey, how was school?"

She shrugged, like she always does.

"Hey, is there anything in particular that you want to do?"

She thought about it for a moment. Then she smiled.

We ran for the rest of the day. See, the siblings of our family I found to be like this. I was the power, Tabitha was speed, and Amy was endurance. She outlasted me, by a long shot. When I got tired, I told her I was heading back.

As I was walking back, Etro greeted me.

"Go away."

"My dear, what's the matter? Never mind, just take this."

"Why would I take anything from you?"

"Fine."

She threw it onto the ground and disappeared. I checked it out. It was a machine of some kind, and it was pointed, almost like a knife, but I didn't want anyone, including me to use it. So I just stashed it away in my room.

Then I took a long, relaxing bath, and then I went to bed.

The next day, I was pushed very roughly out of bed. It was Amy. She always wanted me getting up before she left, unless I had a hangover, or I had a bad day. So, I sent her off, and then I decided to visit Danielle. Yeah, I bet you thought she would never come back, well, probably not.

Anyway, I made a portal to her world, and, again, it was all red. I found her aura soon enough, and then I teleported to her. As soon as she saw me, she pounced onto me.

"You can't trust her!"

"I can't trust who?"

"You can't trust Etro!"

"I know, she's evil!"

"She gave you something, give it to me!"

"Why? What is it?"

"She'll steal your powers, don't ever use it. Give it to me!"

"Um, I hid it, so I won't use it. I promise you, it's safe."

"Make sure, now!"

"It's good to see you too."

"Sorry, I just want you to be safe."

"Weird, it seemed like she was trying to help. Wait, how did you know she gave me something?"

"It's the Etro from here; she mistook you for me when you went back to your dimension, the last time you came. Then she found out about the other Etro, and…"

"She wants what my Etro gave me. Do you want me to destroy it?"

"No, whatever you do, do NOT destroy it! It's powers will release and consume you, then I'll be forced to kill you."

"Okay, got it. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, that seems about it, and sorry again for acting all crazy."

"No, it's understandable. Well, I should probably go back then, and take care of things there."

I went back to my dimension, and rested until Amy got home. It's not like I could teleport to Etro. I'm not like Pit, where I could just ask, and she'll bring me to her.

Speaking of, I decided it would be best to ask Palutena. I could teleport to there, at least. As I went there, I noticed someone else there, except, she was a teenage girl.

She noticed me too. "Oh, and who is this wretch?" she asked Palutena.

"Who are calling wretch, you little twerp?"

"How dare you, you little nothing!"

"Relax you two."

"Lady Palutena, what's a spoiled little kid doing here?"

"This little kid is a goddess." She explained. "And besides, you came here rather often when you were a teenager too."

"Yeah, but that was only because I had to."

"Or if you needed the powers of a god to heal you and your friends."

"Wow, she resorts to asking Palutena for help. Pffft, lowlife…"

"Aren't you a little young to be a goddess?"

"Are you trying to start something with me?"

"Maybe! And believe when I say, I've grown accustomed to fighting gods!"

"And losing." Palutena added.

"Hey, you did too, and who's side are you on?"

"I'm on neither side; I just would like you two to stop fighting in my courtyard."

"Fine, if you want me to leave, just say the word and I'll come back later."

"How did you even get here anyway? Did you have to have Palutena bring you here?"

"Lay off Viridi." Palutena ordered.

"Oh, so you're the Viridi I've heard I resemble? What are you the goddess of, stupidity?"

"Lay off Alyssa."

"At least I am a goddess. You, you're just a little human. They're only things for us gods to use as pawns. I happen to be the goddess of nature, and I could flatten you whenever I want!"

"If you could flatten me, why haven't you done it yet? And why do I sense that I could burn all of your precious trees in one fell swoop with my fire magic?"

"ENOUGH!" Palutena yelled, shaking the entire Skyworld. "Alyssa, leave, now. Viridi, stop acting like a child, we're gods."

I teleported away from that place. Man, Viridi was a piece of work, but think I like her. She reminds me of me, earlier in life, when I was obnoxious.

Anyway, then I just…waited for time to pass. Then I tried again, and she was still there. This time, I tried being civil about it.

"Listen, I'm sorry that things were rough earlier. I was hoping, maybe we could be civil about things."

"…yeah, whatever, and I'm cupid." She turned and walked away.

"Wow, that's pathetic."

"What's pathetic?"

"You were just out-civilized by a 'little human'. I'd say that you were just pwned."

Her face turned bright red, kind of like Palutena's. Just then, I was knocked away, by something. I got up, and saw it was a green slimy thing. "You like it? It's one of my minions."

"It looks pretty scrawny to me." I mocked as I summoned the Key.

"Yeah, nice twig, but I've got followers on my side."

"It's quality over quantity."

I ran for her, but was blocked by a big boulder-y thing. I froze it over, and jumped over it. I was met with a bomb on wheels. Batter up! I knocked it away, and leapt for Viridi. I landed on top of her, with my Keyblade to her throat.

"Ha, not such a puny human now, am I?"

She smiled, and pointed behind me. I didn't even get a chance to look behind me before I was knocked away. I only saw a lightning bolt stream past me.

"Yeah, and I have both quality and quantity!" She yelled at me. "Phosphera, go!"

"Yes mistress."

"Arlon, you too!"

"Of course."

Arlon made it dark, and hard to see, while Phosphera was the bright light that wouldn't hold still, but at least I could see her. But guess what, I have the power of lightning too. I shot several at her, none of them hit. Then she came straight at me. I shot one last bolt that she blocked, made an afterimage and teleported away, all in the blink of an eye. As she passed through it, I knocked her out.

"Ah, you are indeed resourceful, but you'll never find me." Arlon commented.

I sensed him right behind me, and punched there. As he keeled over, I knocked him out. The place returned to normal, and I threw Viridi's minions in front of her. "Hmm, your commanders seem to be sleeping on the job. Why don't you stop hiding behind your pawns and come fight me?"

"Because you two are destroying Skyworld!" Palutena yelled as she got in the way. "Viridi, just go!"

She left with all of her minions.

"Good riddance."

"Alyssa, I know you've had problems with us gods in the past, but did you have to egg her on?"

"Hey, at least I tried to be civil with her. She's the one that started it."

"Aren't you mature enough to not care who started it, but who ends it?"

"…No."

She sighed. "Fine, then just tell me what you need to tell me."

"It's about Etro. See, you know Danielle? She's me from an alternate dimension, and there is also an Etro from that dimension, who mistook me for her when we came back from her dimension. Now, that Etro is here too. So I just wanted to warn you. Just stay alert. If you see her, please tell me. I don't want you or Pit getting hurt again because of me."

"I understand, and we'll be on watch. Trust us, if we find either of them, you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you."

I teleported back, and took out the strange machine Etro gave me. I was definitely artificial, and it had a gray wave pattern on it. Then I put it away, remembering Danielle's words.

I didn't know what to do, so I just practiced on the piano. Then I went to bed.

Nothing interesting happened for the next two days. Then disaster struck. First, a lightning bolt went straight through me, like a bullet, right in the stomach. I could tell who that was.

"Listen, Viridi, I know we have a rivalry, but now it seems like you're trying to kill me."

"I am you little wretch. And it would seem Pit shares my opinion."

Just then, I was attacked by Pit from behind. I managed to jump over him, but it was like pouring salt into my wound.

"Pit, I thought you were-"

"The servant of Palutena? Please, of course I am, and she ordered me to capture you."

"Why? I didn't do anything!"

"On the contrary." Palutena started as she descended from the heavens. "By challenging Viridi, you've challenged the might of us gods."

"So you're going to torture me?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I guess you'll find out soon enough."

"No way. I don't take orders from gods anymore!"

I turned tail and ran, though I was slowed considerably by my wound. Soon, I was knocked down by Phosphera, and Arlon. They seemed more savage, more complicated. So I just ran some more.

By now, it felt like I was getting ripped in two, and I was tripping every two seconds. If only I had two seconds to teleport.

Then, Pit shoved his short swords into my leg, though I believe they just missed the bone. I fell to the ground. What's wrong with me? I have much more power than this, even when I'm wounded.

I dragged myself a couple more feet, and then I blacked out.

When I came to, I was restrained by vines? It was probably Viridi. Anyway, I barely had the strength to speak, I was that drained, and I could feel they were draining me even more.

"Look, it's awake." Pit looked at me. "What do we do with it?"

"Hm, pour salt in her wound."

He did so, and it felt like…pouring salt in the wound. That's all that needs to be said to justify my pain and suffering at the moment.

"Stick your bow in it." Viridi suggested.

He stuck his short swords into the wound as well, and then he stirred the blood and salt together. "Stop!" Palutena ordered.

"Lady Palutena, I-"

She put her sword up to my throat. "Don't ever call me that again, ever!"

"Palutena, why are you doing this?"

"For the same reason we're all doing this, because the grand lord Etro asked us to. We wish only to please her."

"Please, this isn't you. She's controlling you. You have to believe me I-"

Pit poured more salt. I screeched in pain.

"She did promise that you would deafen yourself with your own screams of pain and terror."

That was the last thing I heard before I blacked out.

When I came to, again, my leg was bandaged with black cloth, and Pittoo was treating my stomach wound, and by treating it, I mean pour water into it. Also, my hands were still bound with vines.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting most of the salt out of the wound, and then I'll check for infections and bandage it."

"No time, bandage it now."

"Why?"

"Have to get us out of here. Wait, how are you not controlled?"

"I am controlled by no one but myself, no exceptions."

He started bandaging my wound. When he was finished, I prepared for Instant Transmission. I could barely see Amy's aura at home, but I could barely see at all right now anyway. We teleported, and she visibly jumped out of her seat, and onto the floor.

Then she quickly rushed to my side. She looked at us like "What the hell happened? How could you let yourself get caught, again?!"

"The gods are being controlled." Pittoo explained. "Etro told them to capture her. She was taken by surprise, and gravely injured on the first blow."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"They tell me everything. They're still their same annoying selves, just they work for Etro. Anyway, I trust you can care for her. I'll come by and check on her later." He told Amy as he left.

"Please, go get some help." I asked her.

She left, and came back with Aerith and Tabitha.

They unwrapped the bandages, and looked over my wounds. They said it would take time to heal, but it wasn't that lethal. Yeah, it's not _that_ lethal. Anyway, they just said not to strain myself, and Aerith left and Tabitha stayed.

That next morning, all I could think about was Etro, and though I didn't want to admit it, she outsmarted me. She won for now. Then I would heal, beat the gods, and make them come to their senses.

Then, guess who showed up? At first I thought it was just some guy. Then Tabitha told me it was my brother, Adam. The one who she said didn't change.

"Well, if it isn't little no blade. Jesus, you look awful. Is that how you introduce yourself?" he mocked. "Hmm, it looks like you lost another fight, like you had the strength to be in one."

I stayed silent.

"You better watch out, she's powerful now." Tabitha warned. "She could probably beat you even when she's injured like this."

"Oh? And where'd she get the injuries from, a little kid? Hey, Amy, where's a beer?"

"You don't need one, Adam. This is her respectable household, and she decides if you get a beer."

I levitated, and left, or, at least, I tried to.

"Hey where're you going, wuss? Is this how you treat a brother that you haven't seen in thirteen years?"

"I'm surprised you can count to thirteen, you big, hairy dick."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me, now go away, and out of our house."

"You don't talk to me that way wench."

He summoned his Keyblade.

"Did you forget what we did to you back in the day?"

"No, and that's why I still hate you."

He came at me, I made an afterimage, and teleported away. He charged right through it, and down the stairs, where I was.

"What the hell was that?"

Amy and Tabitha were on the verge of laughter. I levitated away, you know what, I'm going to say fly now. Okay, I flew away, outside. I heard a voice in the back of my head "_kiiiilllll hhhiiiimm…_"

I wasn't going to; there will always be a part of me that will regret it.

I wasn't going to use my mediocre energy to shoot him with a lightning bolt, so that was out of the question, so I guess I could only dodge his attacks. I did just that, and it tired him out considerably.

Just then, a nasty storm picked up. I had trouble stopping when I dodged. Soon enough, he fell to the ground, out of breath. I flew back to our condo, and saw that Tabitha and Amy were on the couch, watching the tube.

"You could've helped."

"We knew you could handle it."

"Damn straight."

I sat down with them, and decided to just heal my leg, because there was no use in waiting for it to heal. Obviously, I need to explain my powers to Aerith. In fact, why didn't I just heal them in the first place? Oh my god, was I that caught up in things? I guess so.

So, I'm all healed up, and ready for action.

"Man, that's one nasty storm out there."

"Yeah, almost like it's the gods fighting. Heh, they probably are." I commented. "I hope the power doesn't go out, because I don't know how to fix things. I mostly destroy them."

"…"

"…"

They both stayed silent. Of course, Amy would stay silent. And of course, you already know that so…I can't explain this part very well, okay?

Anyway, I was teleported to…somewhere. It was all dark, and I could barely see any kind of light, and then, everything lit up. It was two Etro's fighting. "Quick, kill her." One of them ordered.

"No, kill her."

"Um, why don't I kill both of you for turning my friends into cold blooded killers?"

"That was her!"

Well, I hate one of them, and the other wants to steal my powers, hmm. I just teleported away, but they came with me, into the condo. I basically destroyed it. "Come on." I whined. "You two are fixing this when this is over."

"Fine, kill her."

"Just leave each other alone, how about that?"

"She's in our dimension, where she shouldn't be."

"Danielle was in our dimension for over a decade."

"Yeah, I killed her."

"I still hate you for that."

They clashed in a power struggle.

"Oh for the love of-"

I teleported away, and slashed in between them. "Please, just fix my condo, that's all I want, and for you to leave me alone."

They snapped their fingers.

"My god, you gods fight and fight and break humanity. Aren't guys supposed to be divine, oh wait, you aren't gods, you're demons, but still. Don't you have a sense of dignity?

"No." they both said and blew me away before they continued fighting.

"Fine, I could watch you fight for all eternity, or you could stop fighting and let me continue to watch Bill Engvall. Where are we anyway?

"We're in Danielle's dimension, now."

"Well, I'll be back."

I teleported to Danielle.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Your Etro is fighting mine, and they expect me to help them, what do I do?"

"How about go back to your dimension?"

"They follow me, and they had to fix my condo after they wrecked it."

"I would kill yours, because this is still the world that was wiped out of existence in your dimension, so it would die if you killed mine."

I grabbed her hand, and teleported back to their fight. Danielle used her vectors to restrain both Etro's. "Don't even try. These have enough strength to restrain the god of gods; you wimps don't have a chance."

"Okay, please, it's your power struggle. Don't drag me into it. I just want relaxation. So stop being assholes, and just attack us, as much as it pains me to say that. By the way, which one of you is mine?"

"Me…"

I walked up to her, and slapped her right across the face.

"That's for shattering my leg, and making my friends torture me and pour salt into my wound, literally. I should do much more than that."

"Wow, they did that?"

"Yes, first they shoot me with a lightning bolt, and then they pour salt in it, stir the salt and blood with a short sword, and stab my leg in two different places, all while I was restrained by fucking vines. It's embarrassing."

"Now you know what I felt like when I was controlled by Etro."

I made a portal, and Danielle threw my Etro into it. I followed her.

"Now, let's have a fair and square fight."

She cocked her eyebrow, and snapped her fingers. It made a shadowy copy of me. "What?"

"Playing fair isn't my game, you know that."

It charged straight for me. I summoned the Key, and leapt over her attack, but she leapt after me. We fought, that's all there is to it. I'm not going to try and explain every single move I used.

Basically, she fought the same as me, except she was a little bit faster.

I could block her attacks, except I couldn't attack back. Eventually, I got tired of it, and shot her with psychic energy. But then she made four more. Oh my god it's the Tabitha fight all over again. This time, I opened with the explosion. They all died.

"Hmm, it seems you've grown stronger, good."

She went behind me.

I sensed she would go to my right next.

"I've grown faster too."

I shot where she would be, and hit her.

"Well, you've improved."

"I've just fought you so many times."

"Yes, and you've lost that many times."

"You never played fair. You always blackmailed me with my friends and family. This time, it's you and me."

"No it isn't."

Palutena, and Pit and appeared.

"Get out of here. I promised we would have a fair fight."

"She doesn't deserve a fair fight."

"Yeah, and Danielle didn't deserve my kindness, now get out!"

"No way. We're fighting by your side."

"Okay, okay, time out."

"Listen, I need you to create a portal back to their world, right behind them." I whispered into Etro's ear, like she was my girlfriend, and we were sharing secrets.

"Don't even try it Alyssa. We're not leaving."

"Ugh, I just want to play fair so I can lose and she can leave me the hell alone."

"So you admit I'm better?"

"I never stood a chance, I knew that. It was revenge when I killed you last. Anyway, Palutena, leave."

"No, and don't talk to us gods that way."

"Hey, weren't you under another god's control, about two minutes ago?"

"We broke free."

"I let them go you would've just healed anyway. I'm more going for permanent damage." Etro explained.

"Okay, fine, but if you won't leave, then just watch so I can get my balls rocked, if I had a pair. It's either that, or I knock you two out, and throw you back into Skyworld to deal with Viridi. Your choice."

"Is neither an option?" Pit asked.

I sighed. "Fine, go ahead, fight her. Just know that I will watch you be defeated and chained up for blackmail, again."

I sat down on the sidelines. The battle was long, but Etro won. As I said, she chained them with her psychic energy. I hopped up, and Etro was fully healed from fatigue. "And I thought I was healed fast. Anyway, I hope they won't be used as blackmail, in case of the slim chance that I win."

"As goddess-"

"-Demon."

"Whatever, you have my word. You may have them to heal you from any injuries I cause."

I held out my hand.

"What is that?"

"May the best entity win?"

We shook hands, and parted.

I summoned the Key, and tested all of my powers. Everything worked here.

"Are you going to be ready in the next century, because I can wait?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

I charged her as fast as I could, but as I covered about half the distance between us, I threw my Keyblade. It got her right on the cheek. It came right back, and got her on the other cheek.

She frowned, and summoned her own, dark…thing. It was glowing, and shaped like a cross, except with a hooked end. So it looked more like a pitch fork than a cross.

She came at me, and I could barely, no I couldn't blink before she caught me on the arm. It was cut and bleeding, and I didn't have time to heal it, I just let it fall limp.

I continued jumping around like a maniac, and she kept hitting me, mostly my stomach, you know, like a sucker punch leading to a stomach punch.

We eventually got in a power struggle which were my specialties.

"Why do you want revenge on me again?"

"You killed me! You have to experience it to understand how I feel."

"Hmm, but you're a god, I'm a human. Isn't this a little unfair? I can tell your holding back."

"Hmm, good point. Lucky for me, I have another Keyblade."

I summoned Brightcrest, which was my old Keyblade, and swung it at her with my limp arm. I slashed her on her arm, but then she won the power struggle.

"Ugh, this is taking a toll on both of us. Let's call it a draw for now."

"No! I will have revenge!"

She charged me, but her attacks were getting more predictable. I dodged, but just in time because of her speed. Then I five star-ed her on the back, except with my Keyblades.

"Come on, you're tired, just rest. We'll fight again when you're at full strength. I'll be looking forward to it, okay?"

"How can you be so positive when you fight me? Before, you could barely talk when you laid your eyes on me."

"The difference, and why I think I can be positive, is that I have friends to be by my side. You could too if you were a little nicer. I also have places and people I want to protect. It's not about revenge, or if it is, I had a good reason. Who knows, if Danielle didn't get brought back to life, I probably would buried her in this dimension. That would've messed me up, and probably have led to my death, eventually. But we willingly decided that she should leave. Neither of us wanted our emotions to get out of control and us to be angry with one another all the time. She only left because she knew her friend, me, would come see her occasionally. Do you see what I'm getting at here? It's about having friends, and not being a dick cheese."

"Just go…"

I sighed, healed my arm, and freed Palutena and Pit. I teleported them both to Skyworld. I seated Palutena on her throne, and left. Amy was looking at me funny.

"Oh, um, two Etro's were fighting, don't worry about it. They fixed the condo."

She seemed to understand. Man, I stunk, so I took a shower. It felt good. Then I cooked us some dinner, and then we went off to bed.

Then next day, I went to check up on Palutena. I teleported there. "Hello, what is it you want this time?"

"I want to see how you gods are holding up from being beaten to where they can't break free of psychic energy."

"We're fine, just a little roughed up."

"Are you kidding?" Pit whined as he came in with nothing but a towel. "My wings will never recover! I'm doomed."

"Relax Pit, as soon as I recover enough, I'll heal them."

"So you're injured?"

"Just a little, I'm messed up because of Etro's energy in contact with my own. You wouldn't have had a chance of helping us anyway."

"You're right, I have never had a chance against her, but I still killed her."

"But you had to destroy my world to do it."

"Shhhh, don't talk, just rest."

She rolled her eyes, and Pit left and came back with his normal tunic on.

"Hey are you sure?"

I walked to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little…ooohhh…"

She fell on top of me, and I saw her slashed up back. It was really bad. "Oh my lord, Palutena, why didn't you tell me?"

"We just didn't want to worry you. I have some cuts on my waist, but she's much worse off than me."

"Here, here, let me heal it."

"No, don't do that!"

"I have to do something. I can't just stand by and watch her die again!"

"If you use your magic power that Etro gave you, you'll make her worse off than before!"

"Then what can I do?"

"Um, you could heal my wings." He suggested which I did.

"You can let us gods handle this." She mumbled.

"Just because you're more powerful in stature than me, doesn't mean I'll listen. You were injured trying to fight Etro, so I wouldn't have to. I didn't want you getting hurt, but you wouldn't listen, so I gave up, and let you guys get caught again.

"Well, it's fine. We'll heal. Lady Palutena just needs to rest, but she insists on giving orders to the centurions as if there was another war."

"We need to be prepared." She mumbled.

"You don't need to be anything until you're well again. Do you hear me? Please does anyone have any pain relievers?"

For the next hour, I guess, I clean her wounds, with the least amount of pain possible for her. "Thank you, Alyssa. I need a good medical person around here."

"Okay, if you need anything, just send Pit to get me, okay?"

"No, come here." I went to her, and she touched my forehead. "Now I can connect with you telepathically. The only downside is that you can't heal yourself with Etro's powers."

"What? That was my most valuable, ah whatever, fine."

I teleported back.

For the next minute or two, Amy got ready for school. After she left, I went to see Tabitha. Before we could talk, the world rumbled.

"_Um, Alyssa, you might want to evacuate. Viridi set a Reset Bomb on you. I've sent Pit, but it's better to be safe than sorry._"

I looked up at the sky, and saw a giant meteor, and an angel. Put the pieces together. I leapt up at it, and at the force it was going, I decided I wouldn't make it, and flew the rest of the way.

"Man, can everyone but me fly on their own?"

"I guess so, no time, no see. Step aside, and watch."

I shot a powerful burst of lava at it followed by a continuous stream, and I burned and melt all of the plants and rocks, which then fell off, leaving nothing but dirt falling.

"What's with her?"

"_She's still under Etro's control._"

"Why can't she break free?"

"_She doesn't have as much willpower. Even for us, she changed for the better, little by little, when she thought she was so hell bent on wiping out humanity. It seems Etro brought that part of her back out._"

"Look out!" Pit yelled from above me. I couldn't look up to see him land on me, and drag me to the ground. I did manage to soften our fall though.

"Um, Pit?"

"Yes?"

"Could you, maybe, I don't know WATCH WHERE YOU'RE FALLING?!"

"Sorry, the power of flight ran out, so, um, I couldn't really help it."

"Doesn't your flight power last five minutes, not two?"

"Sorry, Lady Palutena's injured really bad, remember? At least she got me here."

"Oh yeah, sorry for getting mad."

"It's okay, anyway, do you have any food?" he asked like an excited puppy.

Tabitha by now had found us.

"Hey, who's this?"

"Um…"

"I am Pit, servant of the goddess of light, Lady Palutena! And Alyssa owes me food for disrespecting her."

"What? You fell on top of me!"

"Yes, but I had no choice other than die."

"Heh, heh, you two are acting almost like a married couple."

"Huh?" we said in unison. We turned away from each other.

"Yeah, right, Pit has it out for Palutena, not me."

I was then struck by a bolt of lightning.

"I take it back. Hey, I thought Phosphera was the lightning woman!"

"_So? Who says I can't have some fun?_"

"Your doctor does, now please just take it easy."

"Um, Alyssa, are you having a private conversation with yourself?"

"No, Lady Palutena and I can speak to each other telepathically."

"Yeah…right, so why does he want food? He's an angel, it's not like he can die."

"Oh, yes I can, I just get brought back. 38 and ½ years ago, I died in the underworld the most."

"You act like it's a video game."

"It kind of is like that, but it's real, trust me. Now, can I have food?"

"Sure, I'll give you crap and piss."

"Are you messing with me again?"

"Maybe."

Just then, Cloud came running toward us.

"Okay, we just saw a gigantic meteor and an angel trying to stop it. What did Alyssa do wrong and why did she do it?"

"Why, did you want to stop it instead? If I insult Viridi enough, maybe she'll drop another one."

"Uh, um, no thank you. One is just fine." He grinned.

I embraced him, and he picked me up by my legs. "Hmmm, what's that in your pocket? It feels pointy, yet firm."

"Uh, maybe I'm just happy to see you."

He put me down, and I pulled whatever it was from his pocket. It was the strange machine Etro had given me. "And you took this why?"

"Well, it looked cool."

"You are such a guy. Anyways, don't touch this. It's dangerous."

"How do you know?"

"Danielle told me. I can't use it or destroy it, or I'll turn into a regular person."

"I hope not in personality."

"Why's that?"

"I like you the way you are, just barely less mature than me."

"Nah, I'd say I'm waaaayyy more mature than you."

"That's the Alyssa I love!"

"Okay, guys, can you have a flirt contest someplace else? I'm starving." Pit interrupted us.

We both sighed, and we took him back to my place. He raided the fridge, and Amy tried to stop him. If I've learned one thing about Pit, you don't get in between him and two things: food and hot springs, and Palutena. Actually, I'm a little bit like that too, to a degree, except for the last one.

Man, my vocabulary is amazing today. I'm using technical terms like degree, and shit. Yeah, I know I'm pathetic.

We all sat down at the table. It was then that I realized that Pit and Cloud hadn't met.

"Um, Cloud, this is Pit, he's the servant of Palutena. Pit this is Cloud, my boyfriend, and they only person other than a god who can beat me in a fight."

They shook, hands, but didn't talk. Pit was busy eating. Once he had half our fridge full, he wiped his mouth threw away his trash, and sat back down.

"So, Pit, what do you do?"

"I do whatever Palutena thinks is right. She usually is."

"So if she told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"

"If the power of flight was available, yes."

"I understand that it only lasts five minutes, but you're an angel, can't you fly on your own?"

"I get that a lot. You have no idea how embarrassing it is to be an angel who can't fly."

"You have no idea what it's like to be a member of our family who didn't have a Keyblade, and get pounded for it."

I sensed something. It was strange, like I had never felt it before. I turned around, only to be met with a staff to the eye, of course.

"What the hell was that Viridi?" I yelled as I stood.

"You had it coming, seeing as how you humiliated me by destroying my Reset Bomb."

"Oh yeah. I told you I would burn all of your nature."

"Is this where you live? It's a dump. It's pathetic."

I noticed Amy get a rather sad look on her face.

"See, you hurt my little sister's feelings. You should know I don't take kindly to that."

"Phosphera…"

"Wait, before you strike, can we please go outside?"

She didn't listen, but I teleported out there anyway.

Phosphera followed me at the speed of light, but I saw her coming a mile away. I followed her movements, and dodged accordingly. Arlon was nowhere to be seen, strangely. "Aw come on, I asked nicely."

I shot some ice to where Phosphera appeared next, and it froze her solid.

"See? I can take on your commanders no problem. It's you I'm actually kind of worried about oof-"

I was pushed away by Cloud just as a giant root came out of the ground, and started chasing me. I was much faster than it, but sometimes, I lost track of it. Then, out of nowhere, I had my arm behind my back, near the breaking point by Phosphera, and the root was coming straight for me.

I had to think fast. I was thinking, thinking, thinking. Then I was flying. I avoided the root, but Phosphera still had my arm behind my back. I kicked her leg, and twisted my arm back around, with a small amount of pain in it, and knocked her out, even though I got a slight shock out of it.

I held my throbbing arm. But then I was attacked by Viridi herself. She was about as powerful as Palutena when I was still like, thirteen, so she wasn't a problem. Soon, I had both her hands being held behind her back.

"Hey Pit!" I called. "Come on, we have to get you back."

"Yes ma'am…" he said rather lazily.

Once he was here, I teleported all three of us to Palutena.

"Let me go!" Viridi demanded.

"After attempted murder, I don't think so. Anyways, sergeant, I'll leave her to you." I said to Palutena after the centurions took Viridi away.

"Alyssa, would you consider joining us? My army?"

"Hmm, I'll consider it, maybe. Ah, what the hell, I accept. I mean, I already have a telepathic connection with you."

"Okay, I'll let you know when I need your skills."

"Oh, so you admit I'm powerful?"

"Don't get cocky Alyssa. We still have a battle to win, with double the enemies."

I sighed, then waved goodbye. After I teleported back, I realized my arm was still throbbing, right about at the elbow. I had Amy wrap it up, and she wrote down that it would heal over time.

I decided it would be nice to get some fresh air. I went back to Tabitha's house. We, again had a contest with firewood, and again she won.

"Man! How do you always beat me?"

"Uh, I'm awesome?"

"Haha, anyway, have you been keeping track of Amy's grades lately?"

"Why, you haven't?"

"Um…"

"You're the most irresponsible guardian ever."

"I know, but I'm barely twenty."

"Well, yes, but didn't we teach you discipline?"

"You taught me to hate you."

"Yeah, you never did excel in school."

"I was too busy hiding from you. Then I learned to make things explode. Eh, I think I turned out okay."

"Yeah, sure you did."

We laughed, but then I heard something. It sounded familiar, almost.

"Hey, shhhh!" Tabitha shut up.

As I started to make it out, I heard one word.

"HELP!"

I closed my eyes, and searched the surrounding areas' auras. I soon saw two fighting, and it was no contest of who was going to win. I opened my eyes. I motioned for Tabitha to follow, and we sprinted towards the disturbance.

What we found churned my stomach. It was Etro fighting…Danielle? What was she doing here?

"What are you doing here?" Tabitha asked.

Wow.

"Oh, just stopping this little grease monkey from ruining my plans, but it seems she accelerated them."

Danielle was struggling to get up.

I looked at her aura and her vectors, they were twisted and bent, and they looked unusable.

"Ah, so you've seen the extent of the damage which you are unable to heal. Good."

I went to Danielle, and picked her up. Etro made no move to stop me.

"I am the only one who can heal them. Not even your gods can get the job done. I only have a small request. Use the machine I gave you."

And with that, she disappeared. I carried Danielle back to Tabitha's hut, and laid her on the floor. "A…ly…ssa…" she moaned.

"Yes, what is it?" I asked worriedly.

"D…don't…do what…she says…okay?"

"I promise. Please, ly still."

She still hadn't opened her eyes. She tried to sit up. I didn't stop her, in fact I helped her. She lifted her hand to her head, and moved her hair a little bit.

"She…broke one of…my horns…"

"You had horns?"

She nodded, and lifted her head down, and parted her hair on her other side. We saw a little horn sticking out of her head.

"They…came with…the vectors."

"Hey, can you open your eyes?" Tabitha asked, out of curiosity I guess.

She slowly and tiredly opened her eyes. One of them didn't have a pupil.

"Whoa."

"What…is it?"

"One of your eyes, it doesn't have a pupil."

She rubbed her eyes, and yawned.

"I…don't have any…energy. I'm…tired."

"Then rest, we'll check you out when you wake up."

She collided with the floor as she mostly passed out.

"Is she asleep?" Tabitha asked. I nodded. "Okay, we have a serious problem. If her things are broken, I don't know how to heal them. I've never dealt with anything like this before. I don't even know what they are."

"If push comes to shove, I'll do what Etro wants. I can't stand to see Dani like this."

"Heh, you treat her better than you treat me."

"She's…a special case. She's made a lot of mistakes in the past, believe me, a LOT. She probably doesn't deserve to be loved, cared for, but we do, and she wants to make it up to us. I want to do everything I can to make sure that she can do that."

"I understand. I'll keep her over here. I'll try to find out if I can fix it. In the meantime, you should go ask your goddess friend, and keep taking care of Amy. Don't tell her. She'll feel bad, and she won't be able to concentrate."

"Okay, you take good care of her."

I went back to our condo, and Amy was already there. She was relaxing, reading those horrid Twilight books. Twilight Town is so much better. I was careful with my words that night. But other than that, the rest of the day was pretty relaxing.

The next day, I went straight to Palutena.

"Lady Palutena! Please, I need your help!"

"What is it?"

"Danielle, her vectors are broken, and so is her horn. We need you to fix them. If you don't she might never be her old self again."

She sighed. "I'm not sure. I'm not very familiar with vectors. That's more Viridi's territory, but I'll see what I can do. Bring her here."

I did so as fast as I could. I decided not to bring Tabitha, because this place is more of a secret between me and the gods.

"Whoa…" she said as soon as she saw us. "I've seen some get broken before, but this is so much worse than I've ever seen. It doesn't help that her body was in extreme stress as she was injured. If her horn is broken, I may not be able to heal it."

"Please, there has to be something you can do! I can't just sit and wait!"

"I'm sorry, but until Viridi is broken from her control, I don't think I can help."

"What if she can't wait that long?"

"Then…I don't know."

I sighed, greatly disappointed.

I picked her back up and teleported to my room. I picked up the machine. "Etro! I'm ready to take you up on your offer…"

Her and I were immediately taken to her alternate domain.

"Good, I see you've seen my point of view."

"No, I just want you to heal Danielle."

"I will not until you deliver your part of the deal."

I sighed. I will so regret this later. I pointed the pointed end to me, and stabbed myself with it. All of my energy, my power, speed, skill, it all disappeared in a matter of seconds in a blinding light. After that, I felt scared, vulnerable. Etro laughed, and then sent us back.

I looked at Danielle. She was sleeping soundly. I tried summoning my Keyblade. I had trouble keeping it in the air I was so weak. All I had left was mine and Palutena's connection, because I felt her presence in the back of my mind. I pulled Danielle onto my bed, and climbed in on the other side.

As I woke up the next morning, I heard happy screams. At least Danielle was up and running. "Oh my lord, Alyssa, whatever you did did the trick!"

I sighed.

"Alyssa, what's wrong?"

"You know how you said to not do what she says?"

"No…you did not give up your powers for me!" she yelled. "I told you not to, you idiot! I was trying to save your butt, but did you listen? No! You went and you-you sacrificed everything!"

"Don't you think I know that? I wasn't forced to give up my power; I did it because I wanted to help you."

"I didn't want you to help me! I wanted to suffer if it meant we had a chance against them!"

"I don't care! I only want my friends and family to live through it, all of my family, even you!"

"Well, unless you want both of our worlds to die, you better start training again. When the time comes, I'll tell you how to get your powers back."

"Okay, and don't let your vectors get twisted and broken again."

"It'll take some time, but I'll be able to control them completely again with only one horn."

She left, and I immediately started training. I did mostly push-ups, and sit-ups. I did that, until I got rather buff and extremely fit, for a regular human. At one point, my brother came in.

"Hey sis."

"Go away." I growled.

"You don't tell me what to do!"

"I said go away!"

"Heh, you can't beat me like you did last time."

"I don't have time for you! I have to get my powers back if Dani and I are going to save both our dimensions, so go away!"

Then he started laughing!

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I'm glad."

"Why? That you can actually beat me?"

"Well, yes, but I'm also glad that you've toughened up. Not just in power, but in spirit. Wow, that sounded cheesy. Anyway, you've got a strong heart, will, and determination. A perfect fit for a Keyblade Master. Eh, in my own way, I was training you for this, to live on your own. Now that my job's done, you won't see me forever. Goodbye."

I took in what he said, even though I still hate his guts, and continued exercising.

Once I thought I was strong enough, I went to Danielle. She's been practicing with her vectors, getting more agile control over them, and it seems her training has paid off.

"Danielle, I think I'm strong enough. How do I get my powers back?"

"Where's the device Etro gave you?"

I had thought that she would ask that, so I took it out.

"Now, I'm going to distract her, and you have to stab her with it. It will release your powers, which will enter the nearest conduit. That will be you."

"What if they go into you?"

"They won't, I'll be about twenty meters away. Etro!"

We were taken into her realm.

"I see you have a death wish. I know what you're going to do, and it won't work."

"We'll see about that, Etro."

She jumped, and the ground where Etro was now smashed. They both had a battle, while I waited in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. When I saw my shot, I went for it. It was just as Etro was coming down from dodging an attack.

I ran for it, and jumped, but she dodged, and knocked me away. My world was spinning, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

Then, the device was taken from my hand. I looked up, and vaguely saw Amy's form. Then I saw Tabitha's right next to her. "Don't count us out, you should know that. Don't worry, we know what to do."

Amy took the device, and ran at Etro, while Tabitha just picked me up, and spun around, as if about to throw me. Then Amy threw the thing, and it hit Etro square in the heart, where all Keywielders' powers come from. Tabitha threw me into Etro.

"No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

All of my power was released, just as Dani said. It released into the nearest conduit, like Dani said, and I got all of my power back, just like Dani said. It was a dream come true. I got on my hands and knees. After, I don't know, three weeks of normality, it felt so overwhelming to have my power back. My body coursed with energy, and I felt stronger than I ever have before.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up and saw Tabitha and Amy looking down at me worriedly. I looked around, and Etro was nowhere to be seen. I think I absorbed some of her energy.

"Hello? Earth to Alyssa!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, I just spaced out."

"So, do you have your energy back yet?"

"Yeah, and I think I have some of hers too."

"Wow, cool, hey let's go home."

I leapt up. I wasn't ready to go home yet. I had to explore this place. I flew around, looking at the elaborate decorations.

"Hey, Alyssa, we need to get going! Amy's going to be late for school!"

I sighed, and went back to them. I teleported us all back there. After they both left, I was so restless. I couldn't sit still. It was like having really bad ADHD. It was amazing. I was faster, so I could do more things and see more people in a day. I even visited Palutena.

"Hey, I need to ask you a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, actually, first, you feeling better?"

"Yes, actually, Pit's good as well."

"Good, good, so how do you handle having so much energy just coursing through your body, and actually sitting still at the same time?"

"You absorbed some of Etro's energy, didn't you?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I can feel it. Something evil is inside you. If you want me to release it that's fine, but just be careful."

"I understand, but I just need help sitting still right now."

"Okay, well, sit down."

I sat on the floor, and took a deep breath.

"Calm your mind. Find your center."

I tried, and failed. New information was still coursing through my mind as per usual with the Crystal Kingdom Key.

"Alyssa, you need to calm down. It'll be hard for you with your weapon, but still try."

I tried again, taking several deep breaths. I could see a little blue flame, almost. It looked lively, and restless, like me.

"Good, now, keep looking at the flame."

I barely heard her. I was mesmerized by the gentleness of it. I reached out for it. But before I could touch it, it was consumed with black and darkness. Then, _her_ face formed a shadow in front of it.

I heard a distant voice calling out to me, but I couldn't remember whose. Then I saw nothing, and I passed out.

When I came to, I was in the shattered remains of the Sky Sanctuary. I tried to remember what happened.

I looked towards a bloody, broken body. I crawled toward it. I was horrified as I saw who it was, or used to be.

I looked up, and the sky was black, gray, filled with nothing but darkness.

"Oh, god, no, what happened?" I screamed. "Lady Palutena, please, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to save you."

"You were here." Somebody growled before I was attacked. I saw that it was Pit.

"Pit, please, what's going on?!"

"Stop playing dumb! You killed her!"

"No…no, I wouldn't."

"I saw with my own eyes, she yelled at you to wake up, and when you did, you killed her!"

He attacked me. What if what he said was true? I couldn't live with myself. I wanted to just let myself die, but my body attacked Pit back. Why? I don't know, but I was winning. I cut off his arm, his leg…his wings, and left him there to bleed to death. I wanted to heal him, but he wouldn't let me. He told me to just end it, so I did.

When I teleported back to my house, Amy was already home. The sky was still clouded in darkness. My eyes darted around, almost like they were looking for prey. She looked worried.

"Please, I'm going to go to my room, please stay out for the night."

I practically ran there, and when I did, I jumped on my bed, and cried. Why did I kill them? I never wanted this to happen. I wanted to go back in time, and make sure I stayed with my abusive family. It was better than this mess.

I didn't know what to do; I didn't have anyone to talk to about anything anymore. I felt alone, helpless, scared.

I don't know why, but I called for Etro. For once, she wasn't evil, or angry, or cunning, or unpleasant to be around. She offered her comforting side, which she only showed to me when I actually still liked her.

"I will take her out, if you please."

I nodded slowly. It happened in a flash. The evil thing came out of my body, and then it disappeared in a blinding flash of light. I still felt strong, but not as strong.

"Now, you owe me."

"What do you want?"

"One year of services of any kind, dirty or not."

"Please, I don't want to hurt anymore of my friends."

"No, I pity you enough to where I will not require you kill any of your friends or family. But, you will never see them again, and you must never talk to them. I will give you necessities, food, shelter in my domain, etc. But, you must swear that no matter how strong you become, you will never turn back on our deal. One more thing: I'm sorry that you had to go through that." She ended awkwardly.

"You can be kind of nice when you don't want to kill me." I said through teary eyes. "Can you bring her back?"

"No, it is beyond my power, to do that, but she will be reborn in a century or two. I promise I will tell her of you, of the good things you two shared."

"Thank you."

That was the end of our…moment, and she sent me to work immediately after. It was mostly stealing priceless items from other gods. I don't know why she wanted them, and actually, most of them were in Radiant Garden, like living as normal humans. It was weird. I never once encountered my friends, and I was glad.

Me and Etro, we developed a kind of Predator-Prey kind of relationship. I didn't know if she cared about me, or if I was just a tool for her to use. Then, on one assignment, I met up with the person who I cared for the most.

It was a random mission, just a vase, nothing special.

"Who are you?"

I turned around, to find Cloud.

"…"

"Hey, answer me!"

He drew his sword.

"…"

"Okay dude, if you don't answer me, I will personally tear your intestines out." He growled. That wasn't like Cloud.

"…"

He leapt at me; I rolled out of the way. He swung downward my now moving form. I shot psychic energy which knocked him away.

"Where did you learn that? Only Alyssa knew how to do that!"

"..."

"Okay, man, you are really pissing me off."

I still hadn't opened my eyes; it was almost completely dark, enough for me to only become a fading silhouette.

He yelled and leapt at me again. He was much faster this time, as if he were now on steroids. Soon, I was backed up against the wall, and he had his sword up to my throat.

"I'm going to ask one more time. Who are you?"

"…"

I didn't answer; I only kicked him back, and attacked him, fast and furious. He soon caught on, and we were evenly matched. One thing I didn't count on though, was him having back up. I was knocked around by them, and they were beating the hell out of me. They knocked me into a wall. One of them lit a fire spell on their hand.

I couldn't see much else before I was knocked out cold.

When I woke up, I really couldn't do much besides wait, since I couldn't move my hands or legs, or, really anything.

"Why are you here?" I looked up, and saw Faith. "Well?"

"…"

"Please, don't make me…" she summoned her weapon, and pointed it at my throat. Then she withdrew her weapon, and slapped me. "Answer me, damn it!"

"She won't talk." Another person entered. It was Danielle. "She's too damn stubborn."

"Then what'll we do?" Faith asked.

"Let her starve, until she decides to talk."

"But-"

"Just trust me. Neither of us can go that long without food."

She had a point. I was already starting to get hungry, and it has been, what, five minutes? Oh well. Over the next, uh, four days, all of my "friends" came to see me, one at a time.

"Hi there, little sis."

I hadn't looked at any of them yet, this time wasn't any different.

"Please Alyssa, just answer a couple questions."

"…"

"Um, what have you been doing these past months?"

"…"

She kneeled down in front of me. "Please, I'm begging you! I want to let you go, but I can't unless you answer!" she cried in my face.

"I can't…" I quietly whispered.

"Why can't you?!"

"…"

"Please, I c-can't live with y-you b-being…like this!"

"…"

I really couldn't stand seeing her break down like this, but I couldn't let out any information. Both them and Etro would kill me. Then my stomach growled.

"Ugh, food…" I mumbled.

"Danielle said-"

"Please?"

Tabitha hesitated. Then…she cut my bonds? I guess. Then I knocked her out. I quickly teleported back to Etro.

"So you failed." She put it bluntly.

"Please, let me try again tomorrow."

"Do not fear, all of your missions thus far have been merely tests so I could assess your skills."

"You mean this was all for nothing?"

"No, you have grown in agility. Believe me, I only truly wish for you to become stronger, more powerful, and godlier, for lack of a better term."

"You mean…"

"Yes, I would like for you to be my successor."

"B-b-but I killed you!"

"Yes, but I see in you such determination and spirit, that I could never have. If the universe were in your hands, I'm sure would take better care of it than I did. You would be able to heal it, while I have only destroyed it."

"Well, were you a Keyblade Master before you became, well, you?"

"Yes, but I was tempted by the darkness, and I thought I could be forgiven if I took this role, but I became more arrogant the more my power opened, and I eventually turned from a goddess to a demon. But you showed me that there was still hope in all of the despair I've made of you. You always fought for a better future, even at the cost of your life. That is rather noble."

"But what if I mess up? What if I become arrogant? W-what if…"

"I doubt that you will become Etro Mk. 2. I think you'll strive to rebuild what I destroyed, but I still want that fair fight I told you about."

"But the last time I got a gods' power, it consumed me, and I killed Palutena."

"Relax; I'm not pure evil, as I was when you killed me last. I want to do my part, and nourish the universe, but my time has almost come. There is only one thing left for me to do."

"What?"

"Bless you, with The Goddess Etro's divinity."

I felt warm inside. It felt good. It was as if all of the guilt was being lifted from my shoulders, and in its place was…divinity. When I opened my eyes again, Etro was gone. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all. I looked around. I guess this was my domain now.

I looked down at myself, and I was glowing. Wait, how was I supposed to govern the universe? I felt restless again. I sat down, and calmed myself. I found that little flame at my center. It was warm again, and when I tried to touch it, Etro's face appeared again. But this time, she was smiling that sad-happy smile like she was relieved that her time had come.

When I came back to the real world, I was calm and collected. I knew what I had to do. I returned all of the missing items that I had stolen, and I went back to Radiant Garden. Of course, everyone surrounded me. Cloud was right in front of me.

I smiled.

"Hello." My voice was strange, as if older, but it still sounded like me. "I can't stay long. I have things to do. If I could have a word with Cloud. Do not fear, I have returned all of the stolen objects."

They all left very hesitantly, and I think they were still watching from the windows. Cloud still had his sword pointed at me.

My smile faded.

"Cloud."

"Alyssa."

"Please put that away."

"What if I say no?"

"It's going to break."

I walked toward him. He swung. I stopped it effortlessly with my pinky.

He looked confused, and launched an assault on me. I blocked it all easily, still with my pinky. "Cloud, I only want to talk."

"There's nothing left to say. You left, I moved on."

"You cheated on me?"

"You've been gone for nine months, and I can't help but feel that you are connected to the sky bringing darkness, again."

"I know. I'm sorry. I killed her, but she'll be reborn in a century or two."

"You say that like it's nothing."

"It is, when you're a god."

"You're a god?"

"Yeah, I wanted to come and say goodbye."

"But, what about Tabitha, and Amy? They won't be able to live without you."

"I never said who I was saying goodbye to. I want you and them to come and live with me, in my domain. We can live together forever."

"I don't know. Tifa and I are already engaged. I don't know how she'll take it."

"So she was your special someone, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I loved you, but I had to move on sometime."

"I understand. I have to go govern the universe. If you change your mind, you can call me."

"One more thing."

He pulled me close to him, and gave me a long passionate kiss. I was like a dream come true. When he pulled away, I was disappointed. "I've been waiting to do that for nine months, at least one last time."

"Thank you, and just to let you know, I'll be waiting."

I went back to my domain. It felt good to say that. Then I went to, like, the room. It was the room where I could see and hear everything in the universe. I could now keep track of everything, and I started to heal it, from what Etro did to it.

When I stopped, I felt like I had to do more, but I didn't. I wanted for everything to return to normal. I wish I wasn't a god. I wish I could still talk to Palutena. Wait, if she's dead, then wouldn't she be in the underworld? I guess I would take a look, because I did.

I searched and searched, and I eventually found her. We stared at each other. It was strange, seeing the god I murdered.

"Lady Palutena."

"I always knew you were bad news."

"Etro has been forgiven for her sins on the universe. She is now the true goddess."

"I see, and you've inherited her power and will?"

"Yes. I hope you will one day forgive me for what I did to you."

"I doubt that. But when I am reborn, I won't remember any of this. Please tell me of the good times we've had, not the bad."

"Pit should be joining you, soon, too."

"Him too?"

"I'm sorry. I couldn't control my body. Her evil spirit was still in my body, and she controlled my actions."

"Well, you have a universe to run. Go."

I sighed and retreated back to my domain.

Three hundred years have passed since that day, and finally, I saw my old friend. The sky finally returned to normal. Everything was so bright and cheerful. My people were celebrating for the return of Palutena, but I didn't mind. I was happy too.

In fact she should be coming about now. "Supreme Goddess Etro, I request your approval of my coming." She called from the throne.


End file.
